Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) and AgCareers.com partner to share the excitement of agribusiness careers with talented post-secondary students. This relationship has led to sponsorship of the sixth annual essay contest. Grant Tarvin’s winning essay rewards him with a trip to attend the JAG National Student Leadership Conference which will be held in Washington D.C. in November.
This one-of-a-kind opportunity will allow Tarvin, a senior at Cabot High School in Cabot, Arkansas, to attend many career building and life skills workshops, network with other students and tour the nation's capital.
“I visited Washington, D.C. when I was very young therefore I don’t really remember it. I’m very interested in government and history, so I look forward to visiting the Nation’s Capital,” said Tarvin. He has grown up around agriculture and is active in FFA. Tarvin plans to major in Agriculture Business at Arkansas Tech University after high school graduation.
Tarvin’s essay on ‘An Agriculture Career in your Community’ received the highest marks out of entries from across the United States. For winning the essay contest, Tarvin will receive an all-expense paid trip to this year’s JAG annual student conference which begins November 20th.
Tarvin discussed Arkansas’ thriving aquaculture industry in his essay, “The bait fish industry has greatly helped and stimulated our economy.” Tarvin adds, “Through creating jobs, stimulating industries, and helping fisherman all over the world, the Lonoke County bait fish industry is truly amazing.” Read his full essay here.
Brendy Early, Cabot JAG Instructor, encouraged her students to enter the essay contest. The JAG Program at Cabot High School includes a year-long class that teaches many important life skills.
The vision of the JAG National Network is to make a measurable difference in the outcomes of public education and workforce development systems at the national, state and local level. Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) is a state-based national non-profit organization dedicated to preventing dropouts among young people who are most at-risk. In more than three decades of operation, JAG has delivered consistent, compelling results – helping nearly three-quarters of a million young people stay in school through graduation, pursue postsecondary education and secure quality entry-level jobs leading to career advancement opportunities.
For the sixth consecutive year AgCareers.com has partnered with Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) to help educate students about agricultural careers. Students enrolled in JAG classes, across the country come from a mixture of rural and urban settings and their involvement in this essay may be the first time they’ve explored the possibility of agricultural careers in their community.
This is the second year the essay contest has used the prompt to write about an Agriculture Career in Their Community. “It’s always interesting to read about the diversity of careers the students research. Over the past two years AgCareers.com has focused much of our marketing efforts on prompting the diversity of careers in agriculture and these students drive that point home even more through the essays they submit,” stated Ashley Collins, Education & Marketing Manager with AgCareers.com.
“This year we read about careers in production, transportation, education, aviation, and the wildlife science aspect of agriculture, just to name a few. It is refreshing to see that JAG students see the big picture and all aspects of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) throughout agriculture,” added Collins.